Kurt Cobain byl klíčovou postavou v oblasti alternativní hudby, jehož texty a styl zásadně ovlivnily zvuk a směřování rockové hudby. Jako hlavní skladatel a tvůrčí síla za vlivnou kapelou zkoumal témata odcizení a rebelie, čímž rezonoval s celou generací. Jeho syrová upřímnost a inovativní přístup k psaní písní zanechaly nesmazatelnou stopu v hudebním světě. Díky svému jedinečnému hlasu a vlivu se stal neúmyslným mluvčím pro novou éru v populární hudbě.
Kurt Cobain burst into American consciousness with a vengeance with the release of Nevermind, an instant classic that defined a sound and a generation. Three years later, he was dead of suicide, leaving a meteoric career and a cultural influence that would never wane. As the lead singer and guitarist of Nirvana, Kurt Cobain changed American music as few musicians ever have. His instantly identifiable raspy croon, his slash-and-burn guitar playing, and his corrosive and poetic lyrics made him a hero to a generation of lost souls. In interviews Cobain was funny, thoughtful, sarcastic, impassioned, and even kind. This collection of interviews provides a look at a man who was too often misunderstood.
Here is the first biography to explore, with shocking detail, the drama that formed this troubled, tragic rock star. Neither an apology nor a condemnation, Kurt Cobain presents a vivid insider's view of the life and death of a man who galvanized a generation and gave birth to the "grunge" revolution with his band Nirvana. Sandford portrays the provocative, small-town rebel with the talent of John Lennon, and then shows him at work on concert stages in Seattle, New York, and London. Readers follow the struggles of Cobain's emotional life—his tumultuous relationships with family and his fellow band members, his drug addiction and sexual appetite, his stormy marriage to Courtney Love, and the birth of his daughter, who, as Cobain wrote in his suicide note, "reminds me too much of who I used to be." During his research, Sandford has had access to Cobain's family, his colleagues, his former friends and lovers, and even author William S. Burroughs, whom Cobain considered to be his "greatest influence." The result is a graphic account of the life that led to the day in April 1994 when Cobain turned a shotgun on himself and became a martyr to disaffected youth around the world.